The Underground Railroad eBook

As to advertising him, John gave it as his opinion
that they would be ashamed to do it from the fact
that they had already rendered themselves more notorious
than they had bargained for, on account of their cruelty
towards their slaves; they were wealthy, and courted
the good opinion of society. Besides they were
members of the Presbyterian Church, and John thought
that they were very willing that people should believe
that they were great saints. On the score of
feeding and clothing John gave them credit, saying
that “the clothing was good enough, they liked
to see the house servants dressed;” he spoke
too of the eating as being all right, but added, that
“very often time was not allowed them to finish
their meals.” Respecting work, John bore
witness that they were very sharp.

With John’s intelligence, large observation,
good memory, and excellent natural abilities, with
the amount of detail that he possessed, nothing more
would have been needed for a thrilling book than the
facts and incidents of slave life, as he had been
conversant with it under the Johnsons in Maryland.

As the other two companions of John Wesley were advertised
in the Baltimore Sun, we avail ourselves of
the light thus publicly afforded:

$2000 REWARD.—­Ran away from
the subscriber, living on the York Turnpike, eight
miles from Baltimore city, on Sunday, April 11th,
my negro man, JACOB, aged 20 years: 5 feet 10
inches high; chestnut color; spare made; good
features. I will give $50 reward if taken
in Baltimore city or county, and $200 if taken out
of the State and secured in jail so that I get him
again.

[Illustration: ]

WM. J.B. PARLETT.

a13-3t*||

“Jacob,” answering to the description
in Mr. Wm. J.B. Parlett’s advertisement,
gave his views of the man who had enslaved him.
His statement is here transferred from the record
book: “My master,” said Jacob, “was
a farmer, a very rough man, hard to satisfy. I
never knew of but one man who could ever please him.
He worked me very hard; he wanted to be beating me
all the time.” This was a luxury which Jacob
had no appetite for, consequently he could not resist
signifying his unwillingness to yield, although resistance
had to be made at some personal risk, as his master
had “no more regard for a colored man than he
had for a stone under his feet.” With him
the following expression was common: “The
niggers are not worth a d——­n.”
Nor was his wife any better, in Jacob’s opinion.
“She was a cross woman, and as much of a boss
as he was.” “She would take a club
and with both hands would whack away as long as you
would stand it.” “She was a large,
homely woman; they were common white people, with
no reputation in the community.” Substantially
this was Jacob’s unvarnished description of his
master and mistress.

As to his age, and also the name of his master, Jacob’s
statement varied somewhat from the advertisement.
For instance, Jacob Taylor was noticed on the record
book as being twenty-three years of age, and the name
of his master was entered as “William Pollit;”
but as Jacob had never been allowed to learn to read,
he might have failed in giving a correct pronunciation
of the name.